Reliable design of an integrated forward-revere logistics network under uncertainty and facility disruptions: A fuzzy possibilistic programing model

Abstract

Although disruptions rarely occur in the logistics networks, they can cause serious operational consequences and negative financial effects in the long-term. This paper proposes a fuzzy possibilistic programing model for designing a reliable forward-reverse logistics network with hybrid facilities in the presence of both uncertainty and random facility disruptions. For doing so, first several effective reliability strategies, i.e., introducing two kinds of reliable and unreliable facilities, partial and complete capacity disruptions, and a sharing strategy, are defined and incorporated into the developed reliability model to mitigate the impacts of random facility disruptions and improve resiliency of the network. Furthermore, a fuzzy possibilistic programing is utilized to deal with the existing epistemic uncertainties in the network parameters, i.e., fixed opening costs, variable processing and transportation costs, demands, returned products, and capacities. Finally, several numerical tests and also a sensitivity analysis are done to demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed model in addition to the potency of the fuzzy possibilistic based solution method in this context.